RankDude
Archived edition, September 2026

AI Answering Service Industry Report, September 2026

Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude

The market▼ Shrinkingbut visits without Phonely are up 58% on a year ago

Visits, year on year, without Phonely
+58%
Visits, last six months
-49%
Name searches vs October 2025
-6.7%

Every key number on the AI answering service market for September 2026, dated and sourced, so you can quote it. The 21 sites I measure got about 587,406 visits from Google, 8% fewer than a year ago, and the five most-visited sites took 97% of them.

Below: every figure in one table, the most-visited sites, who grew and who shrank and what I expect for October 2026. This is an archived edition, kept as published; the latest one is here.

Published 15 October 2026. Data from DataForSEO, Tranco and Ahrefs · free to quote with a link · not a ranking

AI answering service industry report: the key numbers for September 2026

Four numbers for September 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the 21 tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.

1Every figure in one table

Measure

  • Search visits a month, all tracked sites, worldwide
    Value
    587,406
    Period and basis
    September 2026; -7.8% year on year, -43.4% month on month
  • Search visits a month, United States
    Value
    332,108
    Period and basis
    September 2026; -5.3% year on year
  • US share of worldwide search visits
    Value
    56.5%
    Period and basis
    September 2026
  • Brand-name searches a month, US, all counted brands
    Value
    12,080
    Period and basis
    September 2026; -6.7% against October 2025
  • Brand-name searches a month, worldwide
    Value
    26,740
    Period and basis
    September 2026; +3.0% against October 2025
  • Searches a month for “ai answering service”, US
    Value
    –
    Period and basis
    not published this month; see the note under the table
  • Searches a month for “ai answering service”, worldwide
    Value
    –
    Period and basis
    not published this month; see the note under the table
  • Referring domains, all tracked sites
    Value
    38,590
    Period and basis
    September 2026; first reading, no year-on-year figure yet
  • Share of worldwide visits held by the five most-visited sites
    Value
    97%
    Period and basis
    September 2026
  • Share held by the ten most-visited sites
    Value
    98.7%
    Period and basis
    September 2026
  • Tracked sites on Google's first page for “ai answering service”, US
    Value
    1
    Period and basis
    September 2026; positions 1 to 10
  • Tracked sites ranking anywhere for “ai answering service”, US
    Value
    3
    Period and basis
    September 2026; any position checked

Google Ads put US searches for "ai answering service" more than five times higher in August 2026 than in the months before, while Google Trends interest in the US in August 2026 was 19 out of 100, against 31 in July 2026, so the term's search volume is held back on these pages until a later pull confirms it.

Brand-name searches leave out Moneypenny, Nexa, Phonely, Posh, Rosie, Simple Phones and Upfirst: the name is shared with an ordinary word or another product.

2How many people visited

In plain words: These sites got fewer visits from Google than a year ago (-8%), and September 2026 was a weaker month than August 2026 (-43%). Phonely lost more visits on its own than the whole market lost in a year. Without it, visits would be up 57.6% on a year ago instead of down 7.8%. Goodcall made most of the move in September 2026: it lost 240,263 of the market's 450,708 visits; without it, visits to the other sites fell 53.7% on August 2026.

WorldVisits a month to AI answering service sites, worldwide

0500K1.0M1.5M2.0MOct 24Dec 24Feb 25Apr 25Jun 25Aug 25Oct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 26587K
Low 96.5KHigh 1.7MAverage 688K
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Source: DataForSEO, Google search visits, all tracked sites.

Miles explains

Judge this line on the year, not the last dot: visits are 8% below a year ago, and 66% below the April 2026 high. One site winning or losing a ranking can swing a single month a lot.

3How many people went looking

People typed a site’s name into Google 7% less often than in October 2025 (-7%). That is the loyalty number: nobody types a name by accident.

USSearches a month for the site names, United States

05.0K10.0K15.0K20.0KOct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 2612.1K
Low 10.9KHigh 15.4KAverage 13.1K
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

US searches a month for the counted brand names, summed. Google Ads data via DataForSEO, to September 2026.

Miles explains

Name searches are the number I trust most. They are down 7%, and nobody types a site’s name by accident, so this shows fewer people coming back on purpose.

4Where the visitors live

About 57 of every 100 visits come from the United States. Outside the US I measure 7 countries one by one; the largest is Canada.

USShare of visits that come from the US (%)

0255075100Oct 24Dec 24Feb 25Apr 25Jun 25Aug 25Oct 25Dec 25Feb 26Apr 26Jun 26Sep 2656.5
Low 38.4High 62.7Average 55
Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

US share of worldwide search visits, month by month.

Country

  • Canada
    Search visits a month
    27,753
    Share of the measured countries
    62.8%
  • India
    Search visits a month
    10,105
    Share of the measured countries
    22.9%
  • United Kingdom
    Search visits a month
    5,134
    Share of the measured countries
    11.6%
  • Australia
    Search visits a month
    375
    Share of the measured countries
    0.8%
  • Brazil
    Search visits a month
    346
    Share of the measured countries
    0.8%
  • Germany
    Search visits a month
    295
    Share of the measured countries
    0.7%
  • France
    Search visits a month
    155
    Share of the measured countries
    0.4%

Source: DataForSEO, September 2026.

Miles explains

The US is the biggest single market, but only about 57 in every 100 visits. Canada alone is 62.8% of the countries measured outside it.

5The most-visited sites

Goodcall gets the most visits, Smith.ai is the name people search for most, and Rosie is the highest-placed tracked site on Google for “ai answering service”, at position 3. The five most-visited sites take 97% of all visits.

By worldwide search visits

  • Goodcall
    Visits a month
    405,856
  • Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk)
    Visits a month
    131,904
  • Smith.ai
    Visits a month
    14,923
  • Moneypenny
    Visits a month
    8,458
  • Posh
    Visits a month
    8,409
  • Upfirst
    Visits a month
    3,031
  • Abby Connect
    Visits a month
    2,324
  • Nexa
    Visits a month
    2,002
  • Marlie AI
    Visits a month
    1,531
  • Loman AI
    Visits a month
    1,518

By US brand-name searches

  • Smith.ai
    Searches a month
    3,600
  • Goodcall
    Searches a month
    2,900
  • Loman AI
    Searches a month
    1,900
  • Abby Connect
    Searches a month
    1,300
  • Sameday AI
    Searches a month
    720
  • Dialzara
    Searches a month
    480
  • NextPhone
    Searches a month
    480
  • Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk)
    Searches a month
    320
  • Newo
    Searches a month
    210
  • Marlie AI
    Searches a month
    90

Miles explains

The five most-visited sites take 97% of all visits. When one of them gains or loses a big ranking, the whole market total moves with it.

6Who grew and who shrank

The fastest grower in a year was Goodcall (+90%); the steepest fall was at Phonely (-99.5%). Big swings are usually one site winning or losing one Google ranking.

Growing

  • Goodcall
    A year ago
    213,754
    Now
    405,856
    Change
    +90%
  • Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk)
    A year ago
    82,470
    Now
    131,904
    Change
    +60%
  • Moneypenny
    A year ago
    7,276
    Now
    8,458
    Change
    +16%

Declining

  • Phonely
    A year ago
    264,933
    Now
    1,279
    Change
    -99.5%
  • Newo
    A year ago
    18,359
    Now
    1,447
    Change
    -92%
  • Smith.ai
    A year ago
    35,113
    Now
    14,923
    Change
    -58%

Worldwide search visits, September 2026 against a year earlier; sites with at least 5,000 visits a year ago.

Corrected 22 October 2026: the figures were rebuilt from the sources; the year-on-year change in visits moved from -40.4% to -7.8%.

To cite this report: RankDude, “AI Answering Service Industry Report, September 2026”, published 15 October 2026, corrected 22 October 2026, https://rankdude.ai/ai-answering-service/statistics/industry-report/2026-09. Figures are estimates from the sources named beside them.

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